On Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:38:31 -0400, Chuck Harris wrote:
Richard The Dreaded Libertarian wrote:

Well, you don't tax grocery store food or medical supplies, for one
thing. Restaurant food, take-out pizza, convenience store food, all
that's taxable because they're luxuries.

Once you start making exceptions, you are on your way to a mess of a tax
system like we have now.

Oh, bullhockey! See below.

And if you go to Kmart and buy a $5.00 pair of jeans, you pay $0.50
tax; you go to Saks and buy a $250.00 pair of jeans, you pay $25.00
tax.

What does "regressive" mean anyway?

Basic costs of living are a larger percentage of a poor person's income
than they are of a rich person's income. If you tax those basic costs
with a "sales tax", it is a regressive tax. This is because the tax is
a larger percentage of the poor person's income than it is of the rich
person.

So, make a list of "basic costs of living" and exempt them from the
sales tax. Since it's collected at the point of sale, there should
be no controversy - if it's a necessity (food, clothing, medicine)
then it's not taxed. Rent is not taxed because it's a service, not
a product. But the guy who buys the building to rent out pays sales
tax on the purchase.

But the major problem is, there should have never been any need for
any federal taxes _at all_. Maybe the "war tax", but that was supposed
to disappear after the war.

Yah, right.

Well, when things get bad enough and the system goes broke, then
people might notice how they're being raped.

The poor guy who pays that tax will have to work about 1 minute to pay
the tax. The rich guy will have to work a small fraction of a second to
pay the tax. That's regressive.


Well, he only has to work a fraction of the time I do to buy the yacht.
In fact, I've been working on and off for about 35-40 years now, and
STILL can't afford a yacht.

The guy that makes more can buy more, so tax him more.

You seem fixated on this "regressive" stuff. If person A pays the same
percentage as person B, then it's totally "fair" (or as close to fair
as a system of institutionalized theft could possibly hope to be.)

Thanks,
Rich